1. Technical Field
Aspects of this document relate generally to systems and methods for controlling visual and audio effects, such as lights, music, or visual displays, which may be accomplished using multiple data streams.
2. Background Art
Conventional multimedia presentations include audio and visual information presented on a display screen or by live performers. A wide variety of different entertainment genres may be included in a multimedia presentation, including random noises and sounds, various musical styles (rock, country, classical, etc.), visual images (lights, graphics, animation, etc.), and/or dramatic works (theater, motion picture, mime, etc.), and other special effects (fog machines, pyrotechnics, etc.). In conventional multimedia presentations, audio is often used to accompany visual elements included in the presentation. In the early days of motion pictures, the coordination of the audio with the visual elements took place manually, as a musician playing a piano using sheet music kept up with the changing pictures on the screen. Some more modern conventional multimedia presentations utilize timecodes developed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) to enable synchronization of music with visual images. Some conventional systems like Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) Show Control (MSC) involve the transmission of programmed MIDI formatted messages at preset time intervals to cue MIDI interfaced compatible theater light and sound components during a performance.